City law department to look into 3-year council terms

Thursday

City lawyers will begin examining ways the City Council could possibly extend terms, impose term limits and set attendance requirements, among other actions, without a change to the city charter.

City lawyers will begin examining ways the City Council could possibly extend terms, impose term limits and set attendance requirements, among other actions, without a change to the city charter.

“We put a good year’s worth of work in, and then we’re in an election cycle,” Bergman said. “I’m just being honest, that’s the way it is. I think a three-year term would give the voters two full years of our work.”

The idea wasn’t without opposition. Councilors-At-Large Khrystian King and Konnie Lukes both said they had some reservations. Nevertheless, the idea was passed to the legal department for review. Once the city solicitor has drafted a report on the idea, it will come back to city council for review.

Historically, Bergman argued, the city has made changes to its government when something wasn’t working. The city used to have a common council and alderman structure, but changed that when it became outmoded, he said.

He said a common argument against longer terms in the past has been the prospect of electing a bad councilor, then having to wait an extra year to try to get rid of him or her.

“I get that, I really do,” he said, adding the pros outweigh the cons.

One of the key benefits, he said, is taking the city off the odd-year election cycle. Instead of having municipal elections on its own, the three-year structure would line it up on a state election ballot half the time, and on a presidential ballot one-quarter of the time, he said. In both state and presidential election, turnout is historically higher.

“I don’t know who thought of the original idea of putting the City Council election on an odd year, and there may have been very good reasons to do that,” he said, “but as time has gone on, I think, and I think the statistics prove it out, that has not been the best use of an election year ballot process. We have very low voter turnout.”

Indeed, turnout in municipal elections has hovered between 10-20 percent over the past several years. Last November, turnout was just over 15 percent, the second lowest turnout percentage in recent memory, behind 14.4 percent in 2013.

Any change, Bergman said, would apply to the next council.

“This isn’t a power grab for Councilor Bergman or any of my colleagues because this doesn’t apply to the current Council,” he said.

But other councilors weren’t so sure. Lukes was especially skeptical of the order. Bergman’s speech focused on term length, but the order itself includes term limits, attendance requirements, and “et cetera.” She emphasized the inclusion of “et cetera,” and likened it to the opening of Pandora’s Box.

“What happens with these requests is they generate more requests for changes,” she said. “I don’t see how we’re possibly going to do this without getting involved with charter reform.”

Lukes said she’s not outright opposed to examining a change, but said she is wary of the conversation being derailed by too many requests for changes. She also offered that staggered elections – in which two or three councilors would run per year, every year – might create a more stable Council, in which everyone isn’t swept into the same election year furor at once.

“This includes a whole host of items, far beyond a three-year term,” she said.

It could even open the door to pursuing a strong mayor form of government, Lukes said.

“I’m just wondering what kind of hornets nest are we getting into,” she said.

King was also skeptical, but for different reasons. The city’s state and federal legislators serve two-year terms, he said.

“I’m not quite sure how we elevate ourselves above that,” he said.

Low voter turnout, he said, is better addressed in other ways, such as encouraging folks to register and fostering ideals of civic engagement and responsibility. It’s something the administration is taking seriously, he said, and isn’t necessarily a problem that can be solved by changing when people vote.